Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 17:08:24 -0500 (EST)
From: alexander@paradiseword.org
Subject: To See You : Chapter 2

Disclaimer : The following story displayed here is a work of fiction. Any
similarities to any person living or dead are purely coincidental. There
may be sexual content, if this, in any form, offends you, then be warned.
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of
their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property
of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners,
creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is
intended.


Chapter 2

His eyes zeroed in on a little box on his desk next to the
computer. Taking his time, he carefully unwrapped the gift, and
not even in his wildest dreams could have guessed what was
inside.

****

It was still very early, even for Andrew, when woke up that
morning. He didn't have to look at his clock to know that. It was
still very dark outside. Yet, he got up and went to the bathroom.
Getting back to his room, he crawled back into a warm place in
his bed pushing away some of his many pillows. Holding one of
them very closely, he quickly fell back to sleep.

**

When the radio started to play, waking up wasn't high on Jamie
Miller's list of priorities, even lower was getting up. It wasn't by
choice when he finally got up and got dressed. He barely had the
time to get his shirt on when there was a soft knock on the door
to his room.

"I'm coming!" the eighteen year old said just loud enough to be
heard without waking every other soul in the house.

Jamie took one last look of himself in front of the mirror and, after
briefly brushing his hair, he stared at his reflection and saw a
good looking boy fitting quite perfectly in his clothes. Going
downstairs, he made sure not to disturb his younger brother who
was still sleeping soundly with his door open. Mrs. Miller waited at
the front door, winter coat on, until Jamie finally was ready to
leave. The short ride to work was a quiet, Jamie crushed his
mother's questions with short answers, Jamie was still too sleepy
to talk with anyone. After the car came to a stop in front of coffee
shop, he got out of the car. Mrs. Miller watched as his son got
inside before driving away to work herself.

After getting in Starbucks, Jamie went to the small employee lounge to
take his coat off and fell into one of the recliners, only to look up
when his boss walked in moments later.

"Morning Jamie, how are you?"

"I'm good, and you?" he answered wearily.

"Good. Listen Mark called in sick earlier, I've called Carlson to fill
in, he'll be coming later. But Mark was supposed to show the new
guy around. Can I ask you to do it?" Thomas Garcia asked.

"Yes, of course Tom, no problem. Do you know his name?"

"Ummm, Not sure, I've got it somewhere in my office, I have to
get back to you for that. Thanks."

Jamie always liked Thomas Garcia. When Jamie was hired,
Thomas showed him how the all the secrets of the job. A few
years later, Mr. Garcia got promoted to store manager, and Jamie
couldn't think of a better guy for the job. Always fair and there to
help his employees, there are very few better bosses.

**

It was eight in the morning when Andrew got out of bed, knowing
that his parents were off to work, he didn't bother to get dressed
and went downstairs and to make himself breakfast. A few pieces
of toast with nutella on it would do the trick, he said to himself.
He made himself some hot chocolate then sat at the table and he
started to read the newspaper left open by his parents earlier this
morning.

After finishing his breakfast he went back upstairs and woke up
his computer. Once open Andrew fired up his chat applications
and looked to see if someone had, for once, sent him an e-mail.
Fat chance, nothing. Bored and with still some free time, he
opened a hidden folder in his computer to find his porn and did
what horny eighteen year olds do with too much time on their
hands. Methodically, he surfed the net for more pictures and had
dirty chats with other guys online. Finally, almost an hour later,
he finished.

Then he only had the time to get dressed, find his bag, put a
towel, his swimsuit before leaving running to catch the bus at the
corner of the street. The bus ride went without any interruption.
With his iPod touch on, he simply, as always, cut himself off from
all the weird passengers on the bus at this time of the day; from
crying babies, crazy people talking to themselves to an ugly
Quasimodo-like being who seemed to be wearing only a very
large wife beater. Andrew was thankful the shirt went down to the
man's knees.

Getting closer to the cegep stop, a tall dark-haired guy came and
sat on the seat next to him. 'Great with all the empty seats all
over the place why does he have to sit right next to me' Andrew
thought to himself. It wasn't until the unattended guest nudged
him in his side that, with Andrew at the ready to make a viperous
comment, he looked up to see who it was.

"Brendan! Sorry I didn't see you coming in" said Andrew taking
his headphones off. "How goes things?"

"It's good, man." The very handsome looking guy answered him.
He then looked at his watch and with an evil smile added "I'm
glad, tho, that I won't have to wait for you at the pool this time
around."

"Hey, that only happened twice!" Andrew said trying to make his
best offended face. "Beside, it was a slow morning and I thought
that I'd might as well off be waiting at school than sitting at
home."

"So, you're telling me that you'd rather be bored at home alone
than to hang out with me? That's low... it hurts."

"Hush, you know that's not what I meant."

"Oh, so I take it that this morning, you struck out, wasn't enough
guys to keep you long enough." Said Brendan, with a little wink.
Having only for answer a tongue sticking out at him, Brandon
remarked "Next time you do that, you better be prepared to use
it!"

Deciding that he'd play along, Andrew commented "Brendan! It
would be good, I didn't know that you'd be interested."

"First of all, it wouldn't be good, it would be great but that's
something that you'll never know." And getting more serious he
added "But now, shut up it's our stop."

It not like they could have missed the stop as at least half the
people on the bus got off.

In the locker room they were nearly the only ones there. Only a
couple of other regulars old guys who had already changed into
their suits sat around chatting about weather and politics.
Brendan and Andrew where in the back to find their lockers.
Obviously, being simple human nature, Andrew couldn't help but
to steal a quick glance at Brendan as he was about to put on his
speedo. He had the same speedo really, all tight going down to
just a little above the knees, Andrew's just had different colors.
They had bought it together a few weeks earlier before they
started going swimming at the sport center on a regular basis.

"It feels good to be appreciated and wanted!" suddenly said
Brendan.

"What are you talking about?!?" answered Andrew knowing full
well at what he was making reference to.

"C'mon, you don't really think that I haven't realized that every
time you come here, well, lets just say that you have wandering
eyes." Seeing Andrew blushing, his face dangerously red, he
added "As much as the red is nice on you, like I said it feels good
to be appreciated that way by someone else other than your
mother!!!"

"hummmmmm"

Brendan looked funny at him "What? You think I should punch
you 'cause you keep looking at me naked!?! Or 'cause you're
gay?"

"Well, of course no, it's just that I dunno, you surprised me,
caught me off guard a little."

Knowing that it was a touchy subject, Brendan quickly recovered
and said  "Hey lets go, it's already open."

**

Jamie was at the front, cleaning the tables when he saw Tom
coming toward him with a teen boy tailing behind him, that Jamie
pegged as the new guy.

"Jamie, I've told you about the new guy, well this young guy is
Nicholas," Mr. Garcia stepped aside for Nicholas to get closer and
talking to Nicholas "Nicholas, this is Jamie, he's one of our best,
oldest employees, he'll be showing you the ropes, and like I said
before, if there's any problems just come to me I'll be happy to
help."

With that, Mr. Garcia left back toward his office at the back
leaving Nicholas and Jamie alone.

"So, Nicholas, have you ever worked at a coffee shop before?"

"Well, I've helped some at my aunt's place back home, but never
on a regular basis." Nicholas said.

'Back home' combined with the little accent was enough to pique
Jaime's interest in his new co-worker. He had this little feeling
that made him want to know more about him but didn't ask about
it just yet. Jamie made a sign for Nicholas to follow him to the
employee lounge.

"Nicholas, I see that Mr. Garcia already gave you your uniform,
maybe you can start by changing into them... There's a bathroom
in the front."

Nicholas didn't really care about where he could find the
bathroom. He took off his t-shirt in front of Jamie  and began to
change. "Ummm, Jamie, you can call me Nick, I mean if you want
to."

"Yeah, sure thing Nick." Jamie couldn't believe what he was
seeing. Nick had an above the average body and Jamie was
appreciating the sight greatly even though he tried not to stare.
"So, you're new around here?" Jamie asked as he put his polo
shirt on.

"Well, me and my mum, moved around here a while back from
Montreal. She got transferred here." Nick said.

"Well, I think you're all set up, lets get back in to the front and I'll
show you how to use the coffee machines."

 **

Andrew always liked swimming, it was the one thing he could
always do to release his bad energy and his bad stress. Having his
friend Brendan to keep him company was just a great bonus.

With what happened just moment earlier in the locker room,
Andrew had some bad stress to let go. It wasn't like it was a big
shock, a big coming out. He always have been fairly open with
Brendan. They always acted like it was all out in the open, yet
Andrew never officially came out 'Hey, by the way, I'm gay.'
Never, until that morning, had the word 'gay' had been used in
the same sentence as 'Andrew.' All this made him nervous.

After a number of laps he decided to take a break in the shallow
end, waiting for Brendan to swim back to him. Seeing that his
friend was taking a break, Brendan decided to do the same thing.

Brendan a little exhausted "What are you doing? Tired already?"

"Oh! Hush!"

"What time is your class today?" Brendan wondered.

"Umm at one. And before you ask, no, I'd rather not go." Andrew
answered back with a smile.

Brendan chuckled at that "Tell me something that I don't already know!"

"Come back home with me and skip your classes today?"

"Andrew! Don't try to tempt me. Do you really think that I
wouldn't rather come back to your place, heck I've an exam
today, remember?"

"Oh, yaaa, that's right, you did tell me that." After a little quiet
moment with both of them looking at each other, Andrew
announced "You know, I'm kinda tired, I think I'm done here."

Brendan's answered by simply getting out of the pool, and giving
Andrew a good sight of his butt in the process. Andrew followed
him. Having some free time, they walked directly into the empty
sauna.

After a few minutes of doing nothing, sitting in silence, Brendan
noticed that something was preoccupying Andrew. "Won't you tell
me what's on your mind?"

"What are you talking about!?!"

"Andrew, I'm not stupid you know. There's something on your
mind, shoot!"

Andrew sighted "It's stupid, I know, but it's about what we said
earlier. I mean, it's stupid, I know, but it doesn't matter to you
that I'm gay?"

That last question really surprised Brendan "Don't tell me that I'll
have to slap you silly. What do you think?"

"Well..."

"Of course it doesn't, not to me! How long have we been friends?
... like forever, you could be the worst of you and I'll still be your
friend. Beside it was kinda obvious for a long time that you were."
Continued Brendan.

That being said, they went back to the locker room to take a
shower and to change back into their clothes.

**

By the end of the working day, Jamie felt like he had finished his
work; Nicholas could fend for himself and barely needed any
supervision and should be able to work his next day by himself. At
least, that's what Jamie told Tom when he asked how Nick was doing.

Seeing that he had left before him, Jamie was surprised to see
Nicholas in the parking lot of the coffee shop. But he wasn't by
himself, he was standing right next to the front door of a red car,
visibly arguing with the lady that was in the driver's seat. Jamie
could, in fact, hear a word here and there, although, it wasn't
making any sense to him with them arguing in French. It seemed
like they had been going at it for a little while. Yet, Nick was
showing little sign of wanting to get in the car.

Granted, Jamie didn't know Nicholas for a that long period of
time, but he liked the guy, they had talked about a lot over the
course of the day, and Jamie could simply read an expression of
exasperation on his new friend's face. It was like seeing a deer
caught in headlights, or so he thought. Jamie decided that he
would give him an easy way out.

"Hey Nick!" shouted Jamie before jogging to Nicholas.

The interruption certainly had the desired effect on Nick and his
mum. Both of them were looking at the teen coming toward
them, and their facial demeanor softened.

Jamie noticed their change in attitude and was silently proud of
himself. Now that he was right in front of his friend, he realized
he had to make up a reason for calling out to him. "Nick, I was
thinking that maybe you'd want to come back with me and hang
out for a while?"

"I can't I have to go with mum, we have things that need to be
done." Seeing that he came off harsher than he wanted Nicholas
continued, "I'd really like it though, we'll have to do that another
time alright? We really need to go now, I'll see you on Monday."

After saying that, Nicholas got in the car, leaving Jamie standing
there looking at the car driving away. Walking back to his house,
Jamie did hope that his interruption didn't make things worse for
Nicholas.

**

The rest of the school day went fairly well without any problems.
Despite not really wanting to go to his class, Andrew did show up,
thanks to much pressure from his cute friend. It was just before
three in the afternoon when he finally got back home. Tired, he
got back upstairs to his room threw his bag on the bed, logged
onto his AIM then went to the bathroom. When he got back he
barely had time to sit at his desk that he heard the distinct noise
asking for a video conference. His expression brightened as he clicked to
accept. 

An even bigger smile appeared on his face when the feed started,
displaying the cute boy on his screen. "Hey!"


- - -

Thanks for each of you that made this chapter came trough.. I do enjoy
receiving comments from all of you. Please e-mail me your comments at :
Alexander@paradiseword.org

You can also see the latest chapter at :
http://www.gayauthors.org/efiction/viewstory.php?sid=482

and discussion here :
http://www.gayauthors.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=16051